President and Chancellor of Germany Greet Jews on Rosh Hashanah

New Year’s greetings were extended to the Jewish communities of West Germany by President Heinrich Luebke, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and many other leaders of the Federal Republic.

Willy Brandt, mayor of West Berlin, said in his greetings on behalf of the city, that he hoped the New Year would be one of brotherliness and that if friendship and brotherhood were made a reality, it might be possible to overcome the shadows of Germany’s past and to become stronger to meet the dangers of the future.

Dr. Adenauer declared that the Jewish New Yean “should again call upon us to overcome the horrible Jewish tragedy of the recent past and to gain the future in a spirit of understanding and reconciliation. ” Stressing that the trial of former Nazi colonel Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem was one of the most significant events of the past year, the Chancellor also declared that the trial had not burdened relations between Germans and Jews. He added that “on the contrary, it can be said that the friendly relations to our Jewish fellow citizens has further fruitfully developed during the past year.”

President Luebke emphasized the religious and cultural contribution of the Jewish communities in the federal republic and the indications of reconciliation shown in the “synagoga” exhibit of cultural and religious objects and in the open discussions during Brotherhood Week.

A new synagogue building to serve the city’s 119-member Jewish community, was consecrated in Bremen on the eve of Rosh Hashanah in the presence of municipal officials, political leaders, church dignitaries and representatives of a number of Jewish communities in West Germany. The new structure contains a sanctuary for 120 persons, a library, school and office rooms. Before the Nazi period, some 1, 000 Jews lived in Bremen.